Gaelic: A Complete Course for Beginners

by Boyd Robertson, Iain Taylor (Editor)

This is a course in spoken and written Gaelic designed for someone who has never learnt the language before or who wants to brush up rusty skills. It is a practical modern course based on the Council of Europe's guidelines on language learning. The course covers the topic areas and language functions outlined by the Scottish Examination Board in the new Standard Grade Gaelic Learners Syllabus. A book accompanying the cassette is also available, as well as a book/cassette pack.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Reference, Scotland, Linguistics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Terence Gallagher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers a lot of ground very well. The exercises are quite inventive (for example, having to rearrange the words in a sentence so that it reads as proper Gaelic) and drive home the points made in the text. There are also plenty of grammatical notes and paradigms, something that is given short shrift in too many modern language classes. I bought it because I listen to a lot of Scottish Gaelic music and I was often perplexed by features of vocabulary, syntax and pronunciation that I couldn't put a reason to. This book did a great job clearing up those perplexities. It has a good topical index but I think it would really help to have some grammatical tables at the back for easy reference. Comes with two audio CDs.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would have to say based on the book layout if you want to learn and understand the language this is the book for you. I will say that I did not get the audio from the library (not sure why) but assuming I had it I think this would be the best choice. I did manage to get the audio for a different Gaelic course authored by Robertson and it's been great. I'm still on the basic "Hello, How are you?" but only because I've not given it enough attention.

[Pam]

This was the first readthrough of a quite difficult language book. After the first chapter, I absorbed very little. I will be using it as a reference, and going back through it again later.

I was distressed that, while the first chapter was very basic, it immediately jumped to complex structures without any help along the way.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

it is not a good "Teach Yourself" type of book. gaelic is a hard language and this book does not help make it easy.

[rabbitprincess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because I love Gaelic. :)

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is THE most difficult language for me to learn. But the book does it's best to teach you how to speak it.

[Megan]

Teach Yourself Gaelic Complete Course by Boyd Robertson (1995)

[Mark Woodland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, all right. However, not as easy as it sounds, since Gaelige is a difficult language. I have recorded sources that have been a lot of help in using this book.

[Crystal Jewell Killeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this to accompany my other learning materials for Scottish Gaelic. So far it is a very good study guide, and I have learned quite a bit from reading it and listening to the CD's.